With the new semester has come new changes to Talley. In the past month there have been two important changes in the Pavilions, both improving the area in their own way. The first change is the addition of a Tapingo display screen outside of Tuffy’s Diner and the second being the implementation of compostable cups to the area.
Admittedly, both of these changes have been small changes to how we as students each order and eat our food. But the effect that both of them have on the student body and the dining experience at Talley as whole certainly shouldn’t go unnoticed. These two changes alone are great steps in the right direction for the future of Talley.
The new screen at Tuffy’s is a clear example of the effort Talley is making to provide a better experience and the services that Tapingo is willing to provide to make their process more efficient.
I’ve had my critiques of Tapingo in the past. Tapingo’s system of ordering food increased demand to a point of backlog during rush times (lunch and dinner) and it also punishes those who don’t want to order using the service by increasing their wait times.
However, their addition of a screen works to counteract what I see as the largest problems stemming from the nature of how the company views ordering food.
The screen at Tuffy’s addresses the rush times by visually showing customers what is in store for them if they place an order during that time. Imagine a scenario where you walk up to Tuffy’s and the screen shows that most orders haven’t even been started yet, you would be much more likely to just eat somewhere else or during some other time.
Furthermore, the visual queue helps show to customers who place their orders in-person the wait that they have in front of them. Previously, the only way for these individuals to know how many people had placed a Tapingo order ahead of them was to have the app themselves, which in-person customers would likely not have. In short, this screen provides a visual representation of a virtual line; that’s helpful information.
Combined, these two effects help make sure that food is ordered and prepared in a way that doesn’t so severely backlog the orders which is something that neither the customers nor the employees want to deal with. With more of these screens around Talley, the effects could be increased even more, benefitting both all parties involved.
The second change happens to have even less of an impact on how you eat, but an even larger impact on NC State as a whole. The introduction of compostable cups in Talley Pavilions is likewise something that should not go unnoticed by the student body.
The cups require little participation for each individual and, according to reporting by Marco Valencia, are estimated to reduce the waste created by Talley Student Union by 15 percent.
This is by no measure a small impact; the addition of these cups show NC State’s push to become more environmentally friendly and demonstrate Talley’s willingness to be part of the movement.
Combined with the visual queue, this could mean that an increased number of students use more environmentally friendly methods of eating food. These two changes combined will help make sure that Talley moves in a more efficient and environmentally friendly direction. It’s because of this that these changes should not go unnoticed. These are steps by the NC State administration to provide a better place for students, and they work.
